*MJ rocking the 45 for his comeback, kanYe West has a basement full of 45’s that he takes samples from*
kanYe West is the real Michael Jordan of the rap recordings. People like to give Jay-Z that acknowledgment since he was the first person to say that in rhyme verse but just because you rap about it doesn’t necessarily mean its true.
*cue Rick Ross*
Just like Michael Jordan, kanYe West has been through trials and tribulations to find himself in the pop culture position he now claims. No all time great player was berated as much as Michael Jordan was for his lack of long range jump shot, non-existent defense skills or his non-desire for team play. Jordan rose up above his detractors by showing he had all of those talents.
kanYe’s ‘College Dropout’ was like Jordan’s first title win over the Lakers. The Bulls had to overcome their nemesis, the Pistons before they could defeat the aging Lakers in what was Michael Jordan’s official coronation. This victory was the first of three straight championship titles for the Chicago player. I’m talking about ‘The College Dropout’, ‘Late Registration’ and ‘Graduation’.
But then tragedy struck a star-crossed career. The person who was the closest and most confided in was taken from the emerging superstar. At that moment they had to question everything they had achieved in the game. So they switched their pitch up, literally. KanYe West dropped the widely panned yet slept on classic ‘808s’ while Michael Jordan took a swing at playing major league baseball.
The critics of MJ said he couldn’t hit the off speed pitches well enough while kanYe took a knock for not hitting the right notes. In both cases these efforts were personal tributes to the people in their lives they loved the most (James Jordan, Donda West) as well as purges of their old selves whether the public realized this or not. The comebacks that these ballers made from their darkest days have been nothing less than mindboggling. kanYe is back to dominating rap records from the producer’s standpoint while often supplying verses that merc’k other artists on they own shit.
Nike produced sneakers for both MJ and kanYe that reached astronomical levels of hype. The Yeezy even incorporated elements of early Air Jordans. MJ was an icon of achievement for any kid who grew up in Chicago during the late 80s and 90s. kanYe West has gone deeper into pop culture than even Michael Jordan could have hoped to. The most glaring difference I can note is that Michael Jordan would never represent anyone other than himself in the public eye like KanYe has done during the Katrina telethon or the 2009 VMAs.
But to further cement my claim that ‘Ye Tudda is the real Michael Jordan of the rap recordings I submit this picture.
Michael Jordan hangs out with Charles Oakley and his technicolor pimpsuits while KanYe West has his crew of fishsticks